This actually goes back further, to OpenPhil funding CEA in 2017, with Nick Beckstead as the grant investigator whilst simultaneously being a Trustee of CEA (note that the history of this is now somewhat obscured, given that he later stepped down, but then stepped back up in 2021). The CoI has never been acknowledged or addressed as far as I know. I was surprised that no one seemed to have noticed this (at least publicly), so I (eventually) raised it with Max Dalton (Executive Director of CEA) in March 2021 - at least I anonymously sent a message to his Admonymous. In hindsight, it might’ve been better to publicly post (e.g. to the EA Forum), but I was concerned about EA’s reputation being damaged, and possibly lessening the chances of my own org getting funding (perhaps I was a victim of/too in sway to Ra?). Even now part of me is recognising that this could be seen as “kicking people when they are down”, or a betrayal, or mark me out as a troublemaker, and is causing me to pause [I’ve sat with this comment for hours; if you’re reading it, I must’ve finally pressed “submit”]. Then again, perhaps now is the right time to be airing concerns, lest they never be aired and improvements never made. This is what I sent to Max:
1. CEA: I’m surprised that no one has made anything of this, given it’s public information (or maybe they have, but not publicly?) - OpenPhil’s grants to CEA were based on very limited public reasoning, and in the original grant write-up, it was stated that they would review later, but never did (at least publicly). Also—and this is the kicker—Nick Beckstead was the grantmaker, when he was also a Trustee of CEA (and still is). So obviously a massive conflict of interest! Makes it seem like things are very nepotistic with OpenPhil and CEA. Also the EA committee of OpenPhil (https://www.openphilanthropy.org/committee-effective-altruism-support) being anonymous looks like a blatant cover for this! Seems like a double standard when considering CEA (/ EA Funds / EA in general)’s demand for rigorous justification for deciding on whether to fund things. Which is basically how the world works for most things (insiders and outsiders), but I would’ve hoped EA was better than this.
2. …[stuff about EA Global not having any public cost-effectiveness estimates or justification for spending so much; which was later addressed with a blog post that I can’t currently find]...
In general, it seems that there is very little public justification for CEA and it’s projects getting funding. Which is a bad example for EA. Given that the existence and funding of most EA projects is justified by extensive public write-ups and analyses.
Thanks for sharing this, especially since you expressed concerned about speaking publicly.
I have expressed similar concerns within my local EA group because I feel like there is no transparency regarding the CEA, how their money is spent, and the cost-effectiveness of EAG. I was typically met with the reply that EAG was justified because of the networking opportunities and that it being a lavish event was only an “optics” issue. This was especially strange to me since I was new to EA, and it didn’t seem to align with what I imagined the community to be (specifically the lack of rigour in how they were deciding to spend money on such an event, or other things they spend money on such as university groups going on retreats). Thanks for making me feel validated in these concerns.
This actually goes back further, to OpenPhil funding CEA in 2017, with Nick Beckstead as the grant investigator whilst simultaneously being a Trustee of CEA (note that the history of this is now somewhat obscured, given that he later stepped down, but then stepped back up in 2021). The CoI has never been acknowledged or addressed as far as I know. I was surprised that no one seemed to have noticed this (at least publicly), so I (eventually) raised it with Max Dalton (Executive Director of CEA) in March 2021 - at least I anonymously sent a message to his Admonymous. In hindsight, it might’ve been better to publicly post (e.g. to the EA Forum), but I was concerned about EA’s reputation being damaged, and possibly lessening the chances of my own org getting funding (perhaps I was a victim of/too in sway to Ra?). Even now part of me is recognising that this could be seen as “kicking people when they are down”, or a betrayal, or mark me out as a troublemaker, and is causing me to pause [I’ve sat with this comment for hours; if you’re reading it, I must’ve finally pressed “submit”]. Then again, perhaps now is the right time to be airing concerns, lest they never be aired and improvements never made. This is what I sent to Max:
Thanks for sharing this, especially since you expressed concerned about speaking publicly.
I have expressed similar concerns within my local EA group because I feel like there is no transparency regarding the CEA, how their money is spent, and the cost-effectiveness of EAG. I was typically met with the reply that EAG was justified because of the networking opportunities and that it being a lavish event was only an “optics” issue. This was especially strange to me since I was new to EA, and it didn’t seem to align with what I imagined the community to be (specifically the lack of rigour in how they were deciding to spend money on such an event, or other things they spend money on such as university groups going on retreats). Thanks for making me feel validated in these concerns.